Wednesday, 29 April 2009

It can be hard to get excited about Bob Dylan gigs. The best advice is to go with low expectations and an open mind. I've watched him perform awful sets where he's barely acknowledged his audience and only the deluded could call what came out of his mouth 'singing'.

Still, the prospect of seeing the old troubadour in such a small space coupled with my brother's report that he was on good form the previous night at the cavernous 02 meant I was in high spirits on Sunday evening in Camden Town.

Personally, I had a great time. There's no question that Bob's voice is shot but he sang with conviction and I could hear all of the lyrics enunciated (which is more than I can say about previous Dylan gigs). I did doubt whether Bob's band knew what he was up to all the time as they constantly focussed on their boss's odd keyboard riffs and never seemed quite sure when to finish a song.

Still, there's something extremely compelling about witnessing this strange old geezer on stage. As my friend Jane observed, Bob seemed to be enjoying a private joke with himself all night. His bizarre grin reminded me of V for Vendetta; his jerky leg dance conjured up images of Grandpa Simpson at an OAP disco.

As a huge fan of Bob's radio show, where each week he is humorous and engaging, it does surprise me that Dylan limited his audience chat to introducing the band and an Amy Winehouse gag. Yet the other thing that makes Theme Time Radio Hour so great, Bob as self-confessed "musical expeditionary", is always evident at his shows.

On Sunday he doffed his stetson to the Roundhouse's 1970s heyday. I'm not enough of a Faces fan to have noticed but one of our party told me in the pub afterwards that the evening's version of I Don't Believe You explicitly recalled Cindy Incidentally.

Yes, this is geeky stuff, but as Dylan said in his recent interview with Bill Flanagan he just doesn't see himself in the same mould as other performers.

A lot of the acts from your generation seem to be trading on nostalgia. They play the same songs the same way for the last 30 years. Why haven't you ever done that?

I couldn't if I tried. Those guys you are talking about all had conspicuous hits. They started out anti-establishment and now they are in charge of the world. Celebratory songs. Music for the grand dinner party. Mainstream stuff that played into the culture on a pervasive level. My stuff is different from those guys. It’s more desperate. Daltrey, Townshend, McCartney, the Beach Boys, Elton, Billy Joel. They made perfect records, so they have to play them perfectly... exactly the way people remember them. My records were never perfect. So there is no point in trying to duplicate them. Anyway, I’m no mainstream artist.

Debatable I know. What's not is that Bob Dylan is the weirdest crank in showbusiness and is still playing by his own rules. In my book that's to be applauded (if not always heard).

2
comments:

nice review. the band sound good on them there mp3s but the vocals did make me laugh quite a lot. bless. and though i know your devotion to his bobness borders on the religious, i think 'enunciation' is the word you were looking for in your description of his vocal delivery...

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MP3s are posted for a limited time with the aim of encouraging visitors to discover music they've never heard. If you like what you hear please buy more from the artist and go to their gigs. I always post links to purchase next to an MP3 link. If you represent an artist or a label and would prefer that I remove a link to an MP3, please email me at carnivalsaloon @ gmail.com and I will immediately delete the file.